RJD Creative Branding Basics: Our Approach to the Brand Lifecycle

1. BRANDING BASICS
Our Approach to the Brand Lifecycle
presented by

2. What We’ll Cover Today:
• Brand Language
• Our Process
• 7 Things You Can Do Today

3. What Is a Brand?

4. A Brand Is NOT:
• Your company name
• Your logo
• Your tagline
• Marketing copy
• Features and Benefits

5. A Brand Is:
• It’s the gut feeling your 3 C’s (Company, Customers
and Competitors) have about your Business, Product
or Service
• It’s Emotional, not Rational
• It’s not what YOU think it is, it what THEY think it is
• You have a brand already. whether you’ve chosen to
create it, guide it, or it simply exists by default, it exists.

6. A Brand Position Is:
• A single unifying idea that encapsulates the essence
of your brand
• One word or phrase
• Used internally (not in marketing messages or copy)
• A fancy name for “What’s Your One Thing?”
Examples:
• Nike = Inspiration/Innovation
• Volvo = Safety
• Google = Search

7. Brand Identity Is:
Verbal
• Your company name and tagline
• Marketing messages
• Marketing copy
Visual
• Your company logo
• Your company colors
• Design and layout
• Graphics and photography

8. Why Optimize Your Brand Identity?
Benefits of an optimized Brand ID system include:
• Elevated Perception of Company
• Increased Customer Awareness (Memorability)
• Increased Customer Affinity (Trust)
• Increased Customer Action (Sales)
• Elevated Company/Employee/Staff Pride

9. Goals of a Branding/Marketing Program
Successful branding/marketing efforts are:
• Customer-centric — about the customer, not
the company
• Based on brand position — “What’s your One Thing”?
• Memorable (different/unique/first — Awareness)
• Authentic (true/genuine/trust — Affinity)
• Valuable to the customer (Action)
• Focused on positive emotions (customer’s
emotional response), not features and benefits
• Action-oriented — communicate clearly what
the customer should do next

10. Brands Today:
• Are becoming more personal
• Are increasingly about the company leadership —
company owner or CEO
• Also about the employees, the points of
customer contact
• You are your company, you are your brand

11. Our Branding Process

12. 2
3
4
1
STRATEGY
EXECUTION
RESEARCH
MAINTENANCE

13. RECOMMENDED BRAND AND ATTRIBUTES
Research
Analysis
Existing Brand Review
Recommended Brand Strategy
Brand Identity Elements
Positioning Statement
Creative Assets
Maintenence Monitoring

14. Who Is your Audience?
You actually have three audiences: The 3 C’s
1. Company
2. Customers
3. Competitors
So how do we know who they are?
How do we find out what they think of you?

15. RESEARCH! Why is Research Important?
If you don’t conduct research to find out:
You’re really only guessing.

16. What Do We Mean by “Research”?
For Company Customers:
• Surveys (Quantitative Qualitative)
• Interviews (Formal)
• Focus Groups
• One-on-one Conversations (Informal)
• Ask your employees and customers!
For Competitors:
• Gather Materials: Web Site, Ads, Collateral, etc.
• Secret Shopping

17. What Do We Do With It?
• Analyze the data
• Identify Trends, Common Responses
• Isolate Problem Areas
• Identify Successes
• Organize Data into Groups

18. Why Do We Do This?
So you can make informed decisions based on
factual data, not just subjective (internal) opinions.
No Research: Research:
Guesses Facts
Assumptions Trends, Data Groups
Subjective opinions Objective Subjective
Internal only External Internal
One source (Company) Multiple Sources
(Company, Customers
and Competitors)

19. What Else Do We Need to Look At?
What the company brand already looks like:
Existing Brand Review
Visual: Verbal:
• Logo • Company Name
• Colors • Tagline
• Typography • Core Messages
• Design Layout • Marketing Copy
• Graphics Photography

20. Then What? STRATEGY!
After Research and the Existing Brand Review,
we do two things:
1. Recommend a Brand Strategy
2. Recommend a Brand Position and Brand Attributes
This is your brand, your “One Thing”. From here on you will:
1. Use it as the foundation for all communications your
company creates and distributes, both internally
and externally.
2. Proactively guide and consciously apply it to all
of your company communications and materials.

21. What Does Your Brand Need To Be?
1. Different/Unique
2. True/Genuine
3. Valuable to your customers
4. Unclamed by your competiton
If your brand meets these four requirements, it will
be successful.

22. Why Does Your Brand Need To Be This?
Here is how your customer’s mind works:
If your brand is: You gain your customer’s:
Different/Unique Awareness (Memorability)
True/Genuine Affinity (Trust)
Valuable Action (Purchase, $$$)

23. Brand Action Steps:
AWARENESS AFFINITY ACTION
DIFFERENT TRUE VALUABLE
AWARENESS
REPEAT
PURCHASECONSIDERATION PURCHASE ADVOCACY

24. Now It’s Time to EXECUTE!
Next we craft your Brand Positioning Statement
• Based on Your Brand Position (your “One Thing”)
• Single Sentence
• Used internally (not in marketing messages or copy)
• Used to guide your core marketing messages (internal
and external)

25. Then We Create Your:
Core Marketing Messages
• Based on your Brand Positioning Statement
• A series of brand-centric ideas and phrases
• Used primarily internally
• Can also be used externally
• Used to create your external marketing copy

26. Now Comes the Fun Part:
We Create Your Brand Identity Elements
• Based on Your Brand Position, Positioning Statement
and Core Marketing Messages
Visual: Verbal:
• Logo • Company Name
• Colors • Tagline
• Typography • Core Messages
• Design Layout • Marketing Copy
• Graphics Photography

27. Then We Create the “Stuff”:
Your Brand and Marketing Communications Materials
Print: Web:
• Company Stationery • Web Site
• Collateral Brochures • Email Marketing
• Direct Mail • Social Media
• Ads
• Trade Show Materials
• Promotional Items
• Brand Identity Guidelines

28. It’s Time to Tell the World!
Distribute Your Brand and Marketing
Communications Materials
Print: Web:
• Ad Placements • Web Site Launch
• Direct Mail Campaigns • Email Blasts
• Trade Shows • E-Newsletters
• Special Events • Social Media Campaigns
• Holiday Greetings

29. Keep up with Brand MAINTENANCE:
Maintain Your Brand
• Create more “stuff” (Marketing Materials)
• Use the Brand Identity Guidelines
• Educate, direct and monitor outside vendors
• Make sure the wheels don’t come off

30. Which Brings Us To... MORE RESEARCH!
Monitor the Results
Print: Web:
• Ad Tracking • Web Site Stats
• Direct Mail Tracking • Email Metrics
• Trade Show Leads • E-Newsletter Response
• Special Event Feedback • Social Media Monitoring
And the circle of your brand’s life continues...

31. 2
3
4
1
STRATEGY
EXECUTION
RESEARCH
MAINTENANCE

32. 7 Things You Can Do Today...
To help your company’s brand presence:
1. Start setting goals for your brand — align them with
company objectives. What is it you want to communicate,
and to whom? Start defining what brand success looks like.
2. Begin to profile your 3 C’s: Company (stakeholders),
Customers (audiences) and Competitors (inside and
outside your business category)
3. Start to define your “One Thing” — write down how
your company, product or service is Memorable,
Authentic and Valuable
4. Outline how you personally reflect or embody your
company’s brand.

33. 7 Things You Can Do Today...
5. Review your marketing materials — are messaging
and visuals applied consistently throughout?
6. Start to outline the channels through which you should
be communicating your brand. Consider your audiences
and where they get their information. Print Ads?
Direct Mail? Broadcast (TV Radio)? Web Sites? Email?
Social Media? Word of Mouth (Recommendations)?
7. Begin to specify how you would track and measure
the success of your brand efforts. How would you
gather this information? What metrics would you use
to quantify the results?

34. Questions and Discussion

35. Thank You!

36. Bob Diercksmeier
RJD Creative
602.712.9020
bob@rjdcreative.com
www.rjdcreative.com
Facebook.com/rjdcreative
Twitter.com/rjdcreative